Robots could destroy humanity – but they’ll do it out of kindness, says leading futurist

Robots must understand human values or they may kill us out of benevolence, says Watson (Picture: Abidal)

A leading futurist has warned that robots must be taught to appreciate the value of humanity – so they don’t kill us all out of kindness.

Nell Watson told The Conference in Malmo, Sweden, that robots are nearing similar levels of cognition to that of bumblebees, creatures which are both socially aware and able to navigate their surroundings.

The implications of this are that robots will drop ‘system two’ thinking – intelligence based on rules – for human-like ‘system one’ thinking, where they will make assumptions based on the world around them.

However, while this will allow robots to help domestically and even work in complex professions like stockbroking and medicine, Watson warns that the androids need to be aware of human value.

‘I can’t help but look at these trends and imagine how then shall we live?’ she said.

Robots, like the super-advanced Asimo model, will be capable of making assumptions based on their surroundings (Picture: Getty Images)

‘When we start to see super-intelligent artificial intelligences are they going to be friendly or unfriendly?’

She adds that teaching robots benevolence would not necessarily be enough as they may eliminate humanity for what it perceives to be its own good.

Her words echo those of Professor Stephen Hawking, who told The Independent that while creating highly-intelligent machines would have huge benefits, it could also ‘potentially be our worst mistake in history’.